The Toronto Globe and Mail prides itself as “Canada National Newspaper” and as one editor told me “a forum and forge for new ideas and viewpoints”. So it is with some surprise that Wednesday June 11th 2008 edition of the GlobeandMail had an article in the Report on Business by columnist Neil Reynolds that looked …
The Toronto GlobeandMail: Harboring Attack Dogs? Read More »
I have nothing against the rich that a cool swig of a fifth couldn’t deal effectively with; but still let me list 5 ways to Heaven that I resemble their impudence: 1)The Super rich, the top 6% of income earners, rake in over 30% of all US Income in 2005. But I reserve my scorn …
In our previous post, Doing the Troops Wrong, I pointedout how “born-again fiscal conservative only in his last year in office” George Bush had found a way to sell his troopers short once again by refusing to pass an education GI Bill for all Iraq War veterans. This Bill has several benefits including a)honoring the …
How can Barack Obama a)lose in Kentucky and West Virginia by about 30% points to Hillary Clinton and b)afford to lose in Kentucky and West Virginia by about 30%. Lets examine the first point. In state after state in the Democratic primary, the turnout for the primaries has been record breaking. The news media have …
The following is a must read column by Bob Herbert of the New York Times. Here is the jist: “At the top of the list of no-brainers in Washington should be Senator Jim Webb€™s proposed expansion of education benefits for the men and women who have served in the armed forces since Sept. 11, 2001. …
The Democratic party over the weekend discovered that the Clinton’s a) have no chance to win the delegate count; b)will continue to wage an increasingly destructive and internecine campaign that will inflict increasingly serious damage on the part; and c)Bill Clinton is willing to trade being Presidential to being a Peerles Campaigner” any time, day …
Now that New York has replaced one wife cheating governor with another, the prosecution of the johns in the Emperor’s Club case takes on new dimensions. How can the attorneys who have taken the liberty to reveal Spitzer as a John then leave at least 50 other johns unrevealed and unprosecuted ? Well one answer …
The NYTimes which broke the Eliot Spitzer story is doing wrap up coverage here. What is notable about what the NYTimes deems “fit to print” are the following: 1) The prosecution of the Prostitution Ring and four of its owners is going forward; 2)The other “Johns” appear to have dodged the indictment bullet so far; …
From the Eliot Spitzer case there are five other major ramifications: 1)The NYTimes certainly cannot be accused of treating Democrats with kid gloves. 2)The vice-presidential choices of the two presidential contenders will be watched with much greater interest. 3)The US is certainly not European in its sexual morality. 4)The news media are certainly moving along …
Last night on David Letterman Tonight Show David crossed the line. Apparently if you intimate going out with hookers or hint of whoring around then it may be okay to do it. But certainly such “nudge, nudge, wink, winking” appears to allow you to be judge, jury and executioner on others who may do it. …
Andy Rooney has just done a tongue and cheek 60 Minutes piece on why anyone would want to be President. Given Eliot Spitzers demise, one could easily extend that to a much wider range of political offices. There is a paucity of legal pay for dancing on the head of an increasingly fragile legal and …
Vendetta: 1. A feud between two families or clans that arises out of a slaying and is perpetuated by retaliatory acts of revenge; a blood feud. 2. A bitter, destructive feud. Ex-governor Eliot Spitzer has been an unbelievable sucker to become the victim of a vendetta. He should have known that he had acquired highly …
There was extensive coverage of the Eliot Spitzer case on CBC Newsworld today. Nancy Wilson asked an online expert how the government could be so sure of the case against Spitzer. Three things were cited – first, the banks have to report any transaction over $10,000 to the Federal government. Second, large cash transactions in …
William F Buckley Jr. died this past month at the age of 82. Buckley was the aristocratic, cultured spokesman for Conservatism in the US for the past half century. His National Review championed almost obsessively Conservative causes. Here is what Time Magazine had to say in its Appreciation: “He could get things completely wrong – …
I have been very careful not to commit to a Democrat Presidential candidate – I liked John Edward’s “its the Middle Class being gutted alive, stupid” message but not his almost courtroom legal stridency. I liked Joe Biden for his John McCain straight talking but rued his chances for a breakthrough. I liked Barack Obama …
Here is a searing example of how divisive religion has become in the politics of the day, especially in North America. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty announced this week that he was considering alternating other major faith’s prayers with the Lord’s Prayer that opens each session of parliament. The Premier argued that because Ontario and Canada …
Republicans are beginning to reap what they have sewn – some of the most divisive politics of the past 10 years at a time when the Internet and instant information make being a fraud or two-tongued very dangerous business – just ask Roger Clemens. Also read what columnist Gail Collins has to say about Mitt …
Greedy Guts Itself has had widespread consequences – collateral damage that was either not anticipated or, more likely, simply ignored by the round-up of Usual Suspects like an Anthony Mozilo, the Quants and every Big US Bank and its CEO that has foreign Sovereign Funds as new large shareholders. This section will track the spread …
It is stark and unrelenting. Call it collateral damage. Greek tragedy. Yet like Confessions of an Economic Hitman, it is vulgar. I speak of the humbling of Colin Powell whose reputation has been wholly tarnished by himself and by the “Commander” he served. Read not so much the article but the following commentary on this story of who …
Everytime I hear George W. Bush say the words “bringing Democracy to the world” I am awestruck that he and his cohorts don’t just out and out puke. Unfortunately with the State of the Union and other policy speeches of late, the retching opportunties have been too replete. Perhaps George is bypassing opportunities at humor …
I have been looking for some good Presidential Primary Election dashboards. At first I gave the NYTimes the nod especially for its subsidiary Financing and Where the Cadidates have been graphis. But now my allegiance may have changed to Yahoo because it gives more details, including the crucial voter turnout numbers. Not as easy to …
In our piece in this blog on Billary or Obama , I advance the notion which may very well be treated as a scientific hypotheses: The winner of the Democratic nomination will be the winner of the Presidential election. Here is my empirical proof: Primary Election Turnout in 2008 StatePrimary Democrats Republicans Alabama – D=48.9% …
The Democrats have a tough choice coming up beyond Super Tuesday. Will it be Billary or Obama? Now I have deliberately taken this inflammatory designation of Hillary’s campaign for reasons discussed immediately below. But first some full disclosure. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are huge steps ahead of whatever comes out of the Republican Primary …
The results of the South Carolina primary seems to indicate that voters have repudiated BillnHill (or Billary, as NYTimes Frank Rich calls them). Barack Obama’s victory by 24 points with a huge turnout appears to be major tag against the BillnHill tagteam. Also key endorsements help Barack. But the two headed monster that is BillnHill …
BillClinton over the past 2-4 years had built up a stellar reputation for statesmanship and non-divisive politics. Item, Bill had worked not once but twice with President George Bush Sr on the Tsunami Aid Fund and then on the Katrina Aid campaign. Bill had even praised the relationship and decried on Charlie Rose’s TV program …
The ill-fated Iraq incursion and subsequent fiasco may be the source of more widespread problems than instability in the Mid East. Remember the neoconservatives (take a look here for a caustic appraisal of US neoconservatives)were promising that preventitive incursions like Iraq would not only root out malicious regimes but also present the opportunity to “create …
Newsweek and Sharon Begley have done a masterful job of exposing the nature of Fear and how it effects people during decision making. But Sharon has a tighter purpose in writing this science piece, she is applying it to the Politics of Fear that has always permeated politics but has been especially war-crafted by George …
For the past 7-8 months Hillary Clinton has been running a masterful presidential campaign and it shows in the polls – she is leading by 15-20 points except in Iowa and NewHampshire against all her Democratic rivals. But for the first time she has made a series of gaffes – and so she came out …
Hillary: Slipsliding on the Banana of SideStepping Read More »
Beijing has been lecturing Western governments on their support for exiled Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama. US President Bush, while on one hand condemning Congress for its efforts to state that Ottoman Turks were responsible for the slaughter of 1.5 million Armenians at the start of the 20th century, at the same time gave Tibet’s …
Al Gore won not just the Nobel Peace Prize this last week but also another perhaps more valuable award – king/queen maker for the Democratic presidential nomination. Of course Al is not going to enter the presidential race; but who he endorses among the Democratic candidates now has even greater coin. Al Gore is being …
In the Business section of the Toronto Star of October 6th 2007, there is coverage of the Ontario Provincial Election by Michael Babad that really sets the case for why our political processes are way out of kilter. Michael shows in straightforward terms how the rise of the Canadian dollar and the continuing effects of …
